Most superyachts turn heads because of their gleaming hulls, sprawling beach clubs, or towering masts. However, a video recently shared on Instagram has drawn attention to something far more unusual aboard Nausicaä. Instead of focusing on the yacht itself, the footage captures two crew members mopping a pair of enormous gray domes that sit around the vessel’s mast, revealing just how immense they really are.
The remarkable scale of those structures is evident in the Instagram reel shared by Capt Pablo, which shows members of Nausicaä’s deck crew carrying out a routine washdown. Using long-handled brushes and a freshwater hose, they carefully clean only the lower portions of two of the giant domes that can be reached from the deck. The workers appear almost insignificant beside the towering spheres, inadvertently illustrating just how enormous they are.
Measuring 374 feet 8 inches (114.2 meters) in length, Nausicaä was delivered to Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa in May this year after approximately six years of construction, and the maintenance clip offers one of the clearest visual reminders that nearly every component aboard the sailing superyacht is built on an extraordinary scale.
Those giant domes hide the yacht’s communications lifeline
The four massive gray structures are commonly referred to as radar domes, but they are more accurately known as radomes or antenna domes. They do not transmit signals themselves. Instead, each serves as a radio-transparent shell that protects sophisticated satellite communications equipment from salt, rain, sunlight and the harsh marine environment.
Inside each radome is typically a satellite antenna mounted on a gyro-stabilized platform that constantly adjusts as the yacht pitches, rolls and changes course. While the smooth exterior remains perfectly still, the antenna hidden inside continuously tracks satellites orbiting thousands of miles above Earth to maintain uninterrupted communications. Lürssen has never published Nausicaä’s antenna layout, so it cannot be confirmed exactly what sits beneath every dome. Depending on the equipment installed, they can support high-speed satellite internet, secure business communications, voice and video calls, satellite television, bridge operations and backup connectivity. Some superyachts also use matching radomes to create visual symmetry even when the antennas inside differ in size or function.
Their impressive dimensions are dictated by engineering rather than appearance. Larger satellite dishes capture weaker signals after they have traveled vast distances through space, improving bandwidth and reliability in remote regions. The domes must also provide enough room for the antenna itself, motors, stabilization mechanisms, and cabling to move freely without striking the enclosure. Multiple radomes add redundancy as well, allowing another antenna to maintain the connection if one loses its line of sight to a satellite because of the mast, nearby vessels or surrounding terrain.
The vessel was designed by renowned industrial designer Marc Newson, who is best known for his stint with Apple and penning the Apple Watch. He embraced the antenna’s engineering challenge instead of hiding it. The four perfectly matched spheres have become one of Nausicaä’s defining design signatures, giving the sailing yacht a futuristic profile unlike virtually anything else on the water.
The Instagram video captures an essential maintenance routine
Although the video appears to show the crew cleaning the giant domes, they are actually washing only the lower hemispheres, undersides and mounting skirts that are accessible from the deck. The glossy black structure visible behind them is not another antenna housing but the yacht’s distinctive Skydome, which contains Maezawa’s private office.
The careful washdown is far more important than simple cosmetic detailing. Salt spray dries into a crystalline coating that traps moisture, while dust, soot, bird droppings and airborne pollution gradually accumulate on the curved surfaces. Heavy contamination can even interfere with radio-frequency performance by scattering or absorbing signals. Regular cleaning also allows crew members to inspect the mounting bases for cracks, coating damage and early signs of corrosion before they become expensive repairs. Marine antenna manufacturers recommend cleaning with fresh water, mild detergent and soft brushes while avoiding pressure washers, solvents and harsh chemicals that could damage the specialized radio-transparent coating. The gentle hose-and-brush technique seen in the reel is therefore exactly what technicians expect for equipment this sophisticated.
A floating office that consumes enormous amounts of data
Those towering radomes support far more than onboard Wi-Fi. A widely quoted benchmark within the superyacht industry suggests a 70-meter yacht carrying 12 guests and 20 crew can consume well over one terabyte of data every month. Nausicaä operates on an entirely different scale. At 114.2 meters, with accommodation for 18 guests and up to 36 crew across 6,593 gross tons of interior volume, she functions more like a floating luxury resort than a private yacht.
Industry figures indicate that large superyachts consume around two terabytes of cellular data every month on average, even though cellular service is generally treated only as backup connectivity. Once vessels move beyond coastal coverage, satellite systems carry the primary communications load. Guests stream 4K entertainment, upload content from remote anchorages and join video conferences, while owners increasingly run global businesses from sea. Crew members rely on internet access to stay in touch with family, and the yacht continuously exchanges navigation updates, weather routing, security information and engineering diagnostics.
For Nausicaä, that digital workload is likely even greater. The yacht features a pioneering five-engine diesel-electric propulsion system, an approximately 2-megawatt battery bank and an innovative 1-megawatt methanol fuel-cell system with an onboard reformer. Those first-of-their-kind technologies generate large volumes of operational telemetry that can be monitored remotely by engineers and suppliers, allowing performance to be analyzed even while the yacht cruises in some of the world’s most isolated waters.
Estimated to have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Nausicaä ranks among the most technologically advanced sailing yachts ever built. Forbes estimates Maezawa’s fortune at around $1.5 billion, and his newest flagship reflects both his passion for bold design and cutting-edge engineering. Yet it took nothing more than an ordinary maintenance routine to reveal one of the yacht’s most extraordinary features. Standing beneath the giant radomes with brushes in hand, the crew unintentionally demonstrated that the structures responsible for keeping this floating digital headquarters connected to the world are almost as awe-inspiring as the yacht itself.
